Ehlers, edvard

(¤ 1863, † 1937) Edvard Laurits Ehlers, a Danish dermatologist, was born in Copenhagen on March 26, 1863 and died on May 7, 1937.

Edvard Lauritz Ehlers grew up as the son of the mayor of Copenhagen and graduated in medicine in 1891. In the following years he continued his studies in Berlin, Breslau, Vienna and Paris. In Iceland, he investigated the decline of leprosy and was awarded a prize by the National Leprosy Fund in London for his studies. In 1906, he was appointed head of the dermatology polyclinic at Frederiks Hospital in Copenhagen. From 1911 until his retirement in 1932, Ehlers was director at Copenhagen City Hospital. The name Edvard Ehlers is listed together with the name Henri Danlos in the eponym Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which covers a group of rare genetic connective tissue diseases.

In 1901, together with Henri Alexandre Danlos , he was the first to describe the syndrome named after them. The name was given in 1932 and 1936 by E. Schulmann and G. Levy-Coblentz and F. Parkes Weber respectively.

1. Ehlers E (1901) Cutis laxa. Tendency to hemorrhages in the skin. Loosening of several articulations. Dermatol Zeitschr (Berlin) 8: 173-174